Over three million people will do their Christmas
shopping entirely online this year without once visiting an actual shop, a poll
(民意调查) has found. Overcrowding and long queues
in shops are forcing people away from the high street as the hassle (烦扰) of Christmas shopping becomes too much.
The number of people turning their backs on the high
street is almost one million higher than it was last year, according to the
poll by YouGov. Last Christmas 2.4 million shoppers did not do any of their
shopping in actual shops. The figure this year is predicted to be around 3.4
million, equal to around 7 percent of the adult population.
Over a third of people said that the main turn-off
about shopping on the high street is 0ver-crow-ding. Meanwhile almost a quarter
said that long queues at the cheek-out are the worst thing about it.
Of the 2.065 people pored, even those who are stir
taking to the shops plan to spend less time in them this Christmas. Around 31
percent of shoppers who plan to spend at least some time on the high street
will spend less than half of their shopping time in actual shops, using the
rest of the time to shop remotely via the internet. This compares to 28 percent
of people last year. Meanwhile the proportion of people spending over half of their
shopping time in high street shops has dropped from 41 percent last year to 39
percent this year. Just 2 percent of people said that they are looking forward
to dealing wi.th store staff this festival season.
Guy Boxall, senior product marketing manager at Casio
Business Solutions Division, which commissioned the research from YouGov, said
that despite the fall in people visiting the high street,humans are
"social creatures" who actually like spending time together.
"Although the high street is facing a big
challenge Christmas, retailers (零售商) should
see this research as a challenge to improve the in-store shopping experience,
rather than the nail in the coffin. We are social creatures, and the desire to
spend time with each other, particularly at Christmas, is never going to go
away," said Mr. Boxall.
1.According to the poll, in this year's Christmas
A.about 7 % of
the population will do both online and actual shopping
B.about 31% of
shoppers will do half of their shopping in actual shops
C.about 39% of
shoppers will do more than half of their shopping in actual shops
D.over three
million shoppers will quit actual shopping just because of the long queues
2.What's the meaning of "turn-off" in
Para.5?
A.Something
that makes people lose heart
B.Something
that makes people lose face
C.Something
that makes people lose interest
D.Something
that makes people lose courage
3.It can be inferred from Mr. Boxall's words that
A.retailers
should reduce their in-store goods.
B.retailers wiR
be pessimistic about the result of this research.
C.retailers
should focus on the advantage of in-store shopping.
D.retailers
will make more profits this Christmas than last Christmas
4.Wheat's the writer's attitude towards Christmas
online shopping?
A.Concerned. B.Doubtful. C.Approving. D.Objective.